Review: Fable II

Fable II gives you a dog to man's -- or woman's -- best friend. Images courtesy of Microsoft.

You are a poor boy or girl who grows up to discover extraordinary powers to fight with swords, axes, flintlocks or magic. Will you use your powers for good, or evil? In Fable II, you decide. Make the land of Albion your home by buying property, taking a spouse and even having children.

KEEP READING THE REVIEW!

A QUEST WITH A PURPOSE

Being heroic isn't just for guys. Heroines fight just as hard as their brethren in Fable 2.

Fable II lets you play at the greatest things in life -- and not just driving your enemies before you

Review by BRYAN CROWSON

Game type: Role playing.

Maker: Published by Microsoft, developed by Lionhead

Platform: Xbox 360.

Hits: Celebrated game designer Peter Molyneux takes what was good about the original Fable and makes it better. You can now chose to play as a woman or a man, and either can marry and become a parent.

You can learn vulgar, mean, sexy or funny expressions to win favor with villagers, disgust them or strike fear into their hearts. You can hold some expressions to improve their affect with a minigame that involves a metronome-like meter; you tap a button as a dot passes through a tiny green zone. If you mess up, the expression can go wrong. I was trying to entertain my newborn baby once with a hearty laugh, missed the mark and threw up into the crib! My wife and baby in the game weren't very amused, but my real-life son sitting beside me in the den and watching me play was in stitches!

You can use expressions to win the hearts and minds of the villagers, and sometimes even seduce them. If you impress them enough, they'll want to marry you.

You can even name your family members and most villagers you encounter. Plus, you can name your dog.

Yes, you have a dog in the game. I've always had dogs as pets, so interacting with the dog in the game felt natural for me. You pet him or give him treats if he is frightened or hurt. He barks to alert you if there is treasure nearby. He growls if enemies are near and helps you fight them. You don't control him or leash him. He's just there, doing as he pleases, but he's loyal to you and sticks with you. At least my dog stuck with me. I kept him happy. I don't know what he'd do if I were mean to him. I love having the dog in the game.

The landscape of Albion is beautiful. It's a colorful, lush world to roam -- a gentle and welcoming place to inhabit for a while. Even the creepy places light up a little bit when you do something good in them.

The setting of the game is like a European countryside in the 1600s, so there are swords and primative guns, as well as magic spells. Combat is streamlined and simple, without complex combos to confuse your fingers. Use the X button for melee combat, the Y for guns and B for magic. It's simply fun without all the frustruation of a button-masher frenzy. Strategy comes into play with which weapons or spells you chose for the situation, and how you build your abilities and you collect experience.

Combat in Fable II is lively and entertaining, but it's not too hard. The game is more about fun than frustration.

I enjoy having no weight limit to items that I'm carrying and not having to have a flashlight in the dark. Storing your stuff and torch illumination happens automatically, without all the micromanaging fuss typical of RPGs.

While you're in it, it's completely absorbing.

Another innovation is co-operative play, either with someone in the room with you or a friend on Xbox Live. I'm delighted that you can play co-op, and it manages to be fun despite its drawbacks, but just barely ...

Misses: The camera in co-operative play is a disaster. You have no control over it, and it forces you to share the camera viewpoint with your partner. It works OK in a wide-open area, but in close quarters such as the numerous quests that take you into caves and buildings, it's awful. You often can't see where you are or who you're fighting. My brother and I enjoy playing together online, but we've learned to avoid any mission that takes us indoors. We usually just roam the landscape looking for bandits to fight.

Co-operative play also forces you to play as a generic "henchman" rather than your own character, although you can keep the gold and experience you collect in someone else's world. It would be more fun to be your own customized character, interacting with your friend's customized character -- and both of you having your own camera viewpoint!

Although you can keep playing after you complete the main story quest, the game is too short. I need more quests, more jobs, more bad guys to fight and places to go. Fable II is so good, so involving, that you'll soon cover most of the world and be wanting more. And I like being able to dye clothing to customize it, but there isn't enough clothing to choose from. Neither are there enough weapons. I hope plenty of downloadable content is planned.

Your dog sniffs out treasure and barks to alert you that it's nearby. It's by far the most realistic and sensible way to find treasure I've ever seen in a game. Turns out Fable II is a treasure, too.

Recommendation: The greatest achievement of Fable II is creating motivation for the player -- for the player's character -- that feels real. Too many games I've played seem pointless. Why is my character doing all this? Why bother? Fable II gives you a reason, whether it be money, or fame, or the greatest reason of all: For the love of your family -- and your good old dog.

Grade: A.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bryan Crowson is copy desk chief for The Birmingham News and is trying to teach his dog to sniff out treasure. Write to him at bcrowson@bhamnews.com